Day of reflection & other links
George Carlin died a few days ago. He was one of the
first celebrities I ever met. I had been at college
for just a couple weeks and CPB brought him to
perform. Great show, great guy and he was on one of
my first dorm room posters - the one that had
hundreds and hundreds of bad words/phrases on it. I
learned how so many phrases could be innuendo for
something else that day. 
But it is something to have a
comedian that is so entertaining also be a
decent human being when off the stage. His
routines have been used to spread
anti-government, anti-religion and anti-business
by a plethora of groups (some respectable, many
not) - but the reason I always enjoyed his humor
was that it made you laugh and question things
at the same time. The usual "Oh yeah, that's
funny, cuz it's true" combined with "does it
have to be like that" or "it's sad that it's
true" thoughts. No matter, I'll miss him.
Comedy Central Early Tribute
Recent one on America (used by those groups listed above)
Physics/tech links:
Phoenix Mars Mission (great that this project, led by U of Arizona, has gotten so much attention. They've done a good job managing it and setting up PR - maybe a sign that future projects should be outsourced from NASA?)
Fastest-ever flashgun captures image of light wave - tech - 19 June 2008 - New Scientist Tech (I hate it when headlines mislead readers on the science, but it's still cool to see)
IBM's Roadrunner breaks petaflop barrier, tops supercomputer list | Tech news blog - CNET News.com (People wonder what IBM does these days since it's no longer in the PC business... here's one thing it still does well!)
Colliding with nature's best-kept secrets - CNN.com (never heard of this guy before, but it's interesting to see how the scientists get attention)
Earth Will Survive After All, Physicists Say - NYTimes.com (another story on CERN)
The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete (curious take on the subject)
Health-Science/Sex links:
Adventures In Science: The Incredible, Inedible Egg (fascinating first-time ever pictures of a woman's ovulation - this should just disturbing enough that the following links about sex won't be as scintillating)
Can’t Find The G-Spot? You’re Not Alone: The Science of Sex (curious - still have a lot to learn about women)
I've had the G-shot...and YES,YES,YES, my sex life has never been better (UK paper)
ABC News: G-Shot Parties: A Shot at Better Sex? (see a theme, yet?)
AskMen.com - The G-Shot (last one, honest)
Baby born with eight limbs takes her first steps after life-saving surgery (whoa! Amazing pics and story)
Morbid thoughts make you reach for the cookies | Health & Fitness | Reuters (this somewhat explains my purchases from the month of less sleep from shoulder pain)
Books - 2 Books on Illness and Wellness Give Opposite Advice - Review - NYTimes.com (Nortin Hadler is a unique rheumatologist. I have his previous book and can usually appreciate his somewhat cynical view of the health system.)
Potpourri:
Re: Neck of the woods. (In Paris I used the phrase "In my neck of the woods" with a Portuguese doctor. I realized after a second that she had no clue what that meant, and then I thought of how those words together didn't make any sense to me, either. Well, this link cleared it up, but I'll have to work harder on not being so difficult to understand. )
Nintendo Wii Fit women and the $41m damage bill | The Daily Telegraph (who knew the Wii could be so expensive after all!?
)
Daily Herald - Crazy Horse monument turns 60 with no end in sight (hope this gets completed in my lifetime)
A ROMAN GLASS GAMING DIE (on sale at Christies - I love this line "Modern scholarship has not yet established the game for which these dice were used." How cool is that?! Gamers of the ancients? )
Lego Death Star Exclusive High-Res Pics: 3,800-Piece Death Star Diorama Is Coolest Star Wars Lego (meh, I stil prefer the recent huge Millennium Falcon - though I own none of these!)
Airplane Pilot Shares His Thoughts | Your America | Reader's Digest (tell it like it is!)
Picture of trends in CEO pay from NYTimes. (I could imagine BJ saying that CEOs need to be paid this much to encourage them to do what they do well, etc., but isn't this ridiculous?)
And the fun video to end on - Matt is back with his new higher res video of dancing around the world! Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) on Vimeo
But it is something to have a
comedian that is so entertaining also be a
decent human being when off the stage. His
routines have been used to spread
anti-government, anti-religion and anti-business
by a plethora of groups (some respectable, many
not) - but the reason I always enjoyed his humor
was that it made you laugh and question things
at the same time. The usual "Oh yeah, that's
funny, cuz it's true" combined with "does it
have to be like that" or "it's sad that it's
true" thoughts. No matter, I'll miss him.
Comedy Central Early Tribute
Recent one on America (used by those groups listed above)
Physics/tech links:
Phoenix Mars Mission (great that this project, led by U of Arizona, has gotten so much attention. They've done a good job managing it and setting up PR - maybe a sign that future projects should be outsourced from NASA?)
Fastest-ever flashgun captures image of light wave - tech - 19 June 2008 - New Scientist Tech (I hate it when headlines mislead readers on the science, but it's still cool to see)
IBM's Roadrunner breaks petaflop barrier, tops supercomputer list | Tech news blog - CNET News.com (People wonder what IBM does these days since it's no longer in the PC business... here's one thing it still does well!)
Colliding with nature's best-kept secrets - CNN.com (never heard of this guy before, but it's interesting to see how the scientists get attention)
Earth Will Survive After All, Physicists Say - NYTimes.com (another story on CERN)
The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete (curious take on the subject)
Health-Science/Sex links:
Adventures In Science: The Incredible, Inedible Egg (fascinating first-time ever pictures of a woman's ovulation - this should just disturbing enough that the following links about sex won't be as scintillating)
Can’t Find The G-Spot? You’re Not Alone: The Science of Sex (curious - still have a lot to learn about women)
I've had the G-shot...and YES,YES,YES, my sex life has never been better (UK paper)
ABC News: G-Shot Parties: A Shot at Better Sex? (see a theme, yet?)
AskMen.com - The G-Shot (last one, honest)
Baby born with eight limbs takes her first steps after life-saving surgery (whoa! Amazing pics and story)
Morbid thoughts make you reach for the cookies | Health & Fitness | Reuters (this somewhat explains my purchases from the month of less sleep from shoulder pain)
Books - 2 Books on Illness and Wellness Give Opposite Advice - Review - NYTimes.com (Nortin Hadler is a unique rheumatologist. I have his previous book and can usually appreciate his somewhat cynical view of the health system.)
Potpourri:
Re: Neck of the woods. (In Paris I used the phrase "In my neck of the woods" with a Portuguese doctor. I realized after a second that she had no clue what that meant, and then I thought of how those words together didn't make any sense to me, either. Well, this link cleared it up, but I'll have to work harder on not being so difficult to understand.
)
Nintendo Wii Fit women and the $41m damage bill | The Daily Telegraph (who knew the Wii could be so expensive after all!?
)
Daily Herald - Crazy Horse monument turns 60 with no end in sight (hope this gets completed in my lifetime)
A ROMAN GLASS GAMING DIE (on sale at Christies - I love this line "Modern scholarship has not yet established the game for which these dice were used." How cool is that?! Gamers of the ancients?
)
Lego Death Star Exclusive High-Res Pics: 3,800-Piece Death Star Diorama Is Coolest Star Wars Lego (meh, I stil prefer the recent huge Millennium Falcon - though I own none of these!)
Airplane Pilot Shares His Thoughts | Your America | Reader's Digest (tell it like it is!)
Picture of trends in CEO pay from NYTimes. (I could imagine BJ saying that CEOs need to be paid this much to encourage them to do what they do well, etc., but isn't this ridiculous?)
And the fun video to end on - Matt is back with his new higher res video of dancing around the world! Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) on Vimeo
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